While we did hear that Los Angeles temperatures were possibly going to climb back up into triple digits, Gothtober is staunchly dedicated to keepin’ it Fall. We are going to be SO maudlin, scary, weird and droll, that we’re going to make the weather bend to our will so that we can start working on seasonal soup recipes. Basically, if we can’t get the “chill in the air” to come over here, we’ll just go to it.
When the clock strikes midnight, the calendar will launch, and once again we shall twirl down the rabbit hole of miraculous and demented delights from our Gothtober Contributors. We are, to put it lightly, “agog.”
While shopping for giant inflatable 10 foot boa constrictors, we found this ad, and Gothtober’s High Priestess of Web, Cristin Pescosolido, pointed out that if the snake is 10 feet long and it wraps around the boy 4 times… the boy is 9.5 inches from shoulder to shoulder! As demonstrated by this handy formula:
Gothtober applications are closed, Gothtober contributors have been picked and they’re all boiling and toiling in their laboratories with creativity, we will see their works starting Gothtober 1st!
Which brings me to the subject of Halloween candles and candy corn products. Some of you are “blood and guts” type Hallowen people, some of you are “Pumpkin and Fall Leaf” Halloween people. I, myself, am both. I can see merit in a severed hand candle on book case, or a lovely wreath of shiny black feathers adorning your front door.
I used to really like the store “Illuminations” and felt that, out of all the retail-smelly-candle stores, this was the one that spoke to me. Unfortunately, “Illuminations” didn’t survive the great 700 Billion Dollar debacle of 2008 and was taken over by Yankee Candle. I feel like Yankee Candle is more for people who like baskets or linens, but maybe I’m wrong.
I could be wrong, because despite it all, I do find this Candycorn-scented candle to be intriguing and acceptable. I was a little freaked out, however, to find that it doesn’t just stop at candles. You can purchase candycorn car vent sticks, air fresheners and wax melty thingers. The 65-95 hour candle will cost you about twenty-five bones, and the votives are $1.99 each.
If you don’t want to smell candy corn, but you want to taste it, and you’re looking for an experience outside of the usual candycorn regimen, might I suggest Charms Candycorn Pops? It’s $3.95 for a bag of 15 edible conversation starters.
Witches and wizards, and ghosts full of fright,
Apply for Gothtober before twelve at night!
The clock it’s a ticking, your time’s running out,
This year will be one to remember, no doubt!
Prepare all your poisons and pickles and potions,
Begin harvesting all your terrible notions!
Arise and bestow upon us your grave whim
Whether bloody or funny or really quite grim
Just thirty-one doors will be part of Gothtober
Make sure you come join us before it’s all over!
Okay, now you know, and so you have been warned
If you have any questions contact Head Candycorn!
[epiclink link = ‘http://www.gothtober.com/gothtober_app.html’ type = ‘btn-large’ color = ‘btn btn-warning’ ]Apply Before MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!!! [/epiclink]
Nothing feels like autumn more than sitting around a skull candle with family and friends anticipating the arrival of waxy gore, what a crowd pleaser! For less than eight bucks you can get one of these adorable things, light it, and watch the red oozy blood burble slowly out of its eye sockets, impress your loved ones. Get yours at 100 Candles for $7.50 or $19.89 for three!
Meantime:5 Days Left! Gothtober Applications Due midnight on Friday, September 5th!
[epiclink link = ‘http://www.gothtober.com/gothtober_app.html’ color = ‘btn btn-warning’ target = ‘_blank’ ]Apply NOW! [/epiclink]
CALL FOR GOTHTOBER PARTICIPANTS!!! THIS MEANS YOU!!!
Due to the fact that I accidentally ERASED the Gothtober application data and it was down for a few days, some of you were unable to apply because nothing was there! I re-installed the data, and anyone who couldn’t find the form will have no trouble finding it now!
Gothtober is an online advent-style calendar that counts down the days to Halloween, and it consists of 31 “doors”, each day revealing a Halloween treat made by a different contributor! We do this because we LOVE Halloween, and we love bringing everyone together engage with each other, make and do stuff and celebrate the season. It’s ART, goshdarnit!
This blog is not Gothtober, this blog just tells you everything about Gothtober, if you want to see the calendar, go HERE.
You don’t have to be an “artist” or an “expert” to be part of Gothtober, and we always need new blood so to speak. If all you have is snapshots and some napkins with words on them: I can help you turn that into a slideshow!
This year we will actually be handing out AWARDS for various pieces, and we’re calling it “The Ichabods” complete with PRIZES! Prizes will be announced soon, we’re working on that, but please consider scrunching up your gray matter and making something fun or frightening for Gothtober’s Ghoulish Group for 2014, APPLY TODAY!
Below are types of things that Gothtober has shown for the last decade:
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[column]3-minute movies
Rat Cake Recipe
Severed Head Crochet Project
Halloween Sound Effects
Board Games
Vincent Price was really into art, and really into food, and he published a book with his wife many years ago called A Treasury of Great Recipes that I would stare at from time to time during my childhood. It sat in a prominent spot on the cookbook shelf in the family kitchen, and it was perhaps the first time I understood that an actor could have interests outside of being on stage or on screen. Mr. House of Wax put together a fine list of recipes with his wife, and it is a collector’s item today, available on Amazon in mint condition for about three hundred bucks. Published in 1965, this book with it’s padded faux leather copper exterior and gilt lettering doesn’t have fast recipes, it’s got recipes you slave over slowly with love for food. It’s also peppered throughout with beautiful pen and ink illustrations and harkens back to those globetrotting Pan Am days of travel and romance that Mary and Vincent Price were enjoying with true appreciation and wonder.
A photo of Spaghetti alla Bolognese and a sketch from the book!
I called Bill Parr (Dad), and asked him to pick one of his favorites from the book that might be an easy recipe for Gothtober readers, and so here you go, from the vault of Gothtober Dad’s recipe bookshelf is Vincent and Mary Price’s recipe for Spaghetti alla Bolognese. Kind of a great thing is that while it seems that Mary and Vincent were at Tre Scalini a long time ago, the restaurant opened in 1815 and is open for business even today! Just try to read this recipe without hearing Vincent Price’s voice. Bon Appétit!
[column]INSTRUCTIONS SAUCE: In a heavy skillet heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add: 1 onion finely chopped and cook until soft.
Add: 3 rashers lean bacon, cut into small pieces, 1 carrot, chopped, and one stalk celery, chopped. Sauté over medium heat until lightly browned. Add 1/2 pound beef, coarsely ground, and stir until meat is coated with fat.
Add: 2 chicken livers, minced. Stir until meat browns evenly. Add 2 tablespoons tomato puree, 1/2 cup dry white wine, 1 cup beef stock, 1 bay leaf, and 1 strip lemon peel (thin yellow skin only).
Season with: salt, freshly ground pepper, and 1 clove garlic, crushed.
Cover and simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf and lemon peel and allow to simmer uncovered until sauce thickens slightly. Just before serving stir in: 1/4 cup cream and reheat sauce. (Makes 1 pint.)[/column]
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Tre Scalini has a sidewalk café just off the Piazza Navona. You can sit at a table outside and enjoy the view of Bernini’s fountains over an ice cream, or go indoors and enjoy the view of their sumptuous buffet over a dish of pasta. Only people who loved their pasta could have invented so many charming shapes for it. But the great classic dish remains spaghetti with savory meat sauce.
Tre Scalini, where Mary and Vincent Price went on holiday, savoring the local cuisine
SPAGHETTI: In a large pot pour: 3 quarts of water. Rub a little olive oil or butter around the sides of pot above water line. This will prevent water from boiling over when you cook the spaghetti. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and bring to a rapid boil. When water has been boiling briskly, take: 1 pound spaghetti and feed by handfuls into the boiling water. Dip one end of the spaghetti sticks into the water, and as they get soft let them coil into the pot. Never break them. Stir with a wooden spoon occasionally.
If you are using packaged spaghetti, cook for about 12 minutes, or according to directions on package. It should be soft but firm when you bite it. (The Italians call this al dente, or “to the tooth.”) Homemade pasta will need less time to cook – only 5 to 7 minutes. Drain cooked spaghetti in a colander over a pan of boiling water and covering it with a towel wrung out in warm water. PRESENTATION:
Place spaghetti on a warm platter and dot with: 4 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle with: 4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Serve with meat sauce on the side, or in the center of the platter with the spaghetti around it. Pass a bowl of freshly grated Parmesan cheese with the platter.
It takes a duck with no pants to show us that we are all capable of acting like a horse’s ass now and then.
Donald Duck does those horrible things decent people think of doing… but never do. I think that’s why this this duck been in more Disney cartoons than any other Disney character, he resonates. He is like us, or we know people like him, he is gloriously imperfect, and therefore embraced.
Sometimes Donald takes the path that is reprehensible, forbidden or unscrupulous, mostly unwittingly or out of sheer habit. External intervening forces must often rally to get Donald to “straighten up and fly right” and if he finally does get the moral of the story, it’s not always his idea. More often than not, he learns a lesson at his expense. He’s a braggart, sometimes a bully, a prankster whose jokes sometimes get out of hand and cause harm, yet he is still an optimist at heart who wants to be a good duck in this world. He also has a level of tenacity that is unparalleled, and he’s got that “fighting spirit” that gets him through setbacks, which means that if he can do it, we can do it!
Featuring the voice of June Foray as Witch Hazel, and Clarence Nash, who was the voice of Donald for 54 years, this Fall time fabulous cartoon from 1952 never gets old.
The deadline to apply for Gothtober rises above the horizon like a big yellow moon! I was trying to explain Gothtober to someone last night, and they were perplexed, so here’s a direct quote from our Gothtober FAQ, a tab found at the top of the Gothtober Blog:
The Gothtober Countdown Calendar™ is a curated time-release flash-based online museum of 31 works of art by 31 different artists. The official run of the show is from October 1st to the 31st, a new piece being revealed with each day of the month.The best way to see what it is though, is by visiting it!
Today’s pre-autumnal treat is some quality vintage radio. Listening to Boris Karloff, the man who has “raised more hairs than a mother rabbit” is a fine and proper way to start prepping for pumpkin season.
The year was 1947, this show was broadcast on the night of October 29th as part of the Phico Radio Hour. Bing Crosby was the first major star to begin using magnetic tape to record his shows, he gave his pal, Les Paul, an Ampex Model 200 Recorder, and Les Paul used it to invent multitrack recording!
Enjoy a trip back to Halloween yesteryear during radio’s golden age!
Part 1 has some casual banter where Bing talks about Halloween and then goes into one of my favorite songs “Feudin’ Fightin’ and-a-fussin'”
Part 2 at 7:23 gives you a great little song where Boris, Victor and Bing play ghosts who are scared to death… of kids on Halloween! And at minute 13 you can hear Boris get perfectly sinister.
It’s August, but that doesn’t mean it’s Autumn, why no, far from it. And you’re not really thinking about Halloween right now, I understand, it’s miles away. But the Application to apply for Gothtober is due August 29th so that you can have ALL of September to work on your Gothtober piece! This is why I’m introducing you to TacoPopcorn, it will give you the strength to BELIEVE that applying for Gothtober is something you could do, even if you don’t think you’re the type to do it.
Most people’s idea of “success” is not TacoPopcorn. But TacoPopcorn releases endorphins when you eat it, which means it could reintroduce you to who you are! You could be all like “I made this, I’m a person who can make things, and dang this TacoPopcorn is giving me courage, by golly!”
TACO POPCORN RECIPE
2 tb. vegetable oil
3/4 cup popcorn kernels
1/4 cup butter, coconut or olive oil
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 -2 tb. Taco Seasoning (make your own or Trader Joe’s or whatever)
pinch of Berbere Seasoning (the secret ingredient that adds complexity and a tiny bit of sweetness!)
dash of chili powder or Tabasco for heat
another dash of garlic powder because garlic
salt to taste
Pop your popcorn like you do, throw it in a big bowl, drizzle or spray with oil (I have an olive oil mist-thinger) then sprinkle your spice mixture in stages onto the popped kernels, mixing with each stage to make sure you’ve got even coverage. It’s ready to eat, and Olé you’re ready to apply for Gothtober!
